"Shadow Magic," New Dafoe Pic, New FIlm From John Hurst

The international co-production “Shadow Magic,” which recently beganprincipal photography in Beijing, is a remarkable instance of officialcooperation between the governments of China and Taiwan. The film isbased on the true story of the making of the first Chinese movie in1905, which was directed by down-on-his-luck American nickelodeon manRaymond Wallace and his Chinese photographer collaborator Liu afterovercoming extraordinary cultural obstacles. “Shadow Magic” itself hasovercome some singular obstacles, finding production funds from Americavia Schulberg Productions, from Germany by way of Wim Wenders’ RoadMovies, and most intriguingly, from a consortium that includesquasi-governmental film bodies from both mainland China and Taiwan. Thefilm is produced, co-written and directed by Chinese filmmaker Ann Hu(“Dream and Memory”), and stars the likes of Jared Harris (“I Shot AndyWarhol”), Xia Yu (“In the Heat of the Sun”), and Liu Pei Qi (“The Storyof Qiu Ju”).

>> Dafoe Ole

Variety reports that Willem Dafoe (“Affliction”) has been set to star inupcoming indie film “Bullfighter” from Danish techno artist RuneBendixen, who is making the shift from leading a techno band called theOverlords to writing and directing. Dafoe will play a “mysticalwarrior-priest” in this millennial comedy which also stars Michael Parks(“Niagara, Niagara”), the aforementioned Jared Harris (“I Shot AndyWarhol”), Domenica Cameron-Scorsese (“Allah Tantou”) and Royal DanishBallet dancer Alexander Kolpin. The film will also feature cameos bydirectors Guillermo del Toro (“Mimic”) and Robert Rodriguez (“From DuskTill Dawn”).

>> Moran and Hurt try “New Blood”

Director John Hurst (“Project Assassin”) is set to begin shooting hisnew low budget independent film “New Blood” in Toronto in two weeks.The film is a moody crime drama with a high profile cast including JohnHurt (“Love and Death on Long Island”) and new British sensation NickMoran (of “Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels” fame).